Frank,
The "FDA approved" title seems somewhat ambiguous. Example: the M6 is not FDA approved and absolutely, positively cannot be implanted on US soil. Multilevel ADR is not FDA approved, but has been done in the US for many years. Now that the Mobi-C has received FDA multilevel approval, does that mean that all ADRs are FDA approved for multilevel application? Even though they've been done in the US for years? Further, insurance companies don't cover things that are not FDA approved. But until recently they didn't cover ADRs that were FDA approved. So I'm not exactly sure what "FDA approved" means. That ESI's are not approved, but are covered is interesting and confusing.
As far as using that as a tool in getting BCBS to pay, I wish you the very best of luck. The people that I dealt with at BCBS were more slippery than a live catfish. The poster that goes by the name 2Confused was successful in getting BCBS to pay for her single level ADR with Dr Clavel.
Here is a link to her post.
Any time frame on the lumbar?
Good luck, Jeff